Veggie Chili

You know how much I love good food that is good for you. . .well, I decided a couple months ago to do a cleanse/detox for four weeks this month. No this has nothing to do with a New Year's Resolution (I don't believe in making them) nor does it have to do with a desire to lose weight (I like my curves, thank you very much). What this does have to do with is a great desire to be healthy and treat my body well because I only get one and this one is on loan to me from God. So I've been feeling a bit sluggish, and I thought that this would be good for me. I did something similar to this about three years ago, and I loved how I felt when I finished.

Basically, I'm just eating a lot of fruits and veggies, some whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans. Just easy to digest foods, so my body doesn't have to work as hard and can get rid of the extra junk in my tissue. It's actually quite easy to cook foods to go along with this, and I've been enjoying some old favorites as well as trying some new recipes to go along with it. I made this last night for dinner, and it was delicious!!


Start with about a tablespoon of coconut oil and add in a couple of cloves of minced garlic and a medium sized diced onion. Let cook for just a moment and add in about 3 stalks of sliced celery. Continue cooking over medium low heat until onions are slightly translucent.


Add in a large can of chunky tomato sauce and a large can of diced tomatoes. I think my diced tomatoes had garlic in them as well. Stir and allow to simmer.


Add in one can each: black beans, great northern beans, kidney beans and pinto beans. Stir and season with chili powder, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg, basil, turmeric, and pepper.


Allow to simmer until heated through and if you can let it simmer for a while to allow the flavors to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste. I like my chili a little spicier, so I add extra chili powder and cayenne pepper to just my bowl.


You can serve this with fresh sliced avocado on top. You could also add diced red bell pepper and zucchini to this recipe and it would be good as well. Super delicious and super nutritious. Enjoy!!

chili for chilly weather

The weather hasn't been very spring like the last couple of days, so today I made chili. Yum! This is how I make chili. . .

Start with about half an onion diced up and a clove of garlic and some olive oil in a pan. This time I added some celery and mushrooms because I had some on hand. You can also add Worcestershire sauce if you want (I happen to be out right now so I didn't).


Add seasonings. I like to season twice. Once when the base ingredients are cooking and once when all the ingredients are in the pan. I feel like it gives the dish a nice depth of flavor (but that could just be me, feel free to season however you want to).


Then add a pound of ground beef. You can also use deer or elk meat here for a slightly different flavor. The benefit of wild game meat is that it generally is much leaner than beef, but then again, we have lean beef, so it's whatever you like.


While the beef is browning, place three tomatoes in a pan of water on high. I use roma tomatoes because I like the flavor and the low acidity of them. This is just to blanch the tomatoes so that you can remove the skins easily. You don't want to overcook them or they will turn to mush.


Once the skins on the tomatoes have split, remove them from the heat and bathing them in cool water remove the skins. Chop them up and add to the meat mixture.


Then add one can each, tomato sauce, black beans and red beans. Give it a good stir.


Add the second set of seasonings, and check the flavor. I usually add a little more chili powder and cayenne pepper because I like a little spice. Depending on how spicy you want your chili you can add more or less of both these spices.


And there you have it. I like to let it sit and simmer for a little while so all the flavors mingle nicely, but this is also a great leftovers dish because the more it sits, the better the flavor gets (until it goes bad, then it's just no good).